Unique Travel

Upaya Zen Center’s Summer Practice Period “Essence of Engaged Buddhism,” which runs August 6 through September 7, 2008, presents all aspects of Buddhist study and life, dharma talks, sesshins, the arts, and seminars. This rare and powerful program’s faculty includes Roshi Joan Halifax, Roshi Bernie Glassman, Sensei Fleet Maull, Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi, Irene Kyojo Bakker, Marty Peale, Natalie Goldberg, Beate Stolte, and Maia Duerr. Both seasoned and beginner Buddhist practitioners are welcomed. Attendees are invited to the month long practice period or may take any one of the five programs. The Upaya Zen Center is one of the most renowned and respected Buddhist centers in the world doing socially-relevant programming, making it possible for new and seasoned practitioners to see how the contemplative life forms a base for social action and service. With the world so imperiled, the importance of this kind of experience cannot be under-estimated.

August 6-10, 2008 ENGAGED BUDDHISM RETREAT: History and Foundational Practices of the Five Buddha Families with Sensei Fleet Maull and Roshi Joan Halifax *(Required/Chaplaincy)

The essential nature of a bodhisattva or a Buddha is that he or she embraces the enlightened qualities of the five Buddha families, which pervade every living being without exception. These lightened qualities include discriminating awareness wisdom, mirror like wisdom, all encompassing space, wisdom of equanimity, and all accomplishing wisdom. To achieve the realization of these five Buddha families or the five dhyana buddhas, it is necessary to meet and transform the five disturbing emotions of great attachment, anger or aggression, ignorance or bewilderment, pride and envy. Sensei Fleet Maull, founder of the National Prison Hospice Association and Prison Dharma Network, senior meditation teacher in both the Shambhala Buddhist and Zen Peacemaker communities, a social activist, and director of the Peacemaker Institute and the Naropa University Center for Contemplative End-of-Life Care and Roshi Joan Halifax, Head Teacher at Upaya Zen Center, lead this workshop. Cost: $440 member; $480 non-member. Includes lodging.

This program is an exploration of the three aspects of Buddhism’s North Star, the Precepts: abiding literally in the precepts, compassion and the precepts, and wisdom/not knowing and the precepts. Participants will explore how the precepts can support the practice of engaged Buddhism. Cost: $270 member; $290 non-member. Plus lodging.

August 15 – 17, 2008 INNER CITY MINISTRY: The Path through Homelessness and Poverty with Roshi Bernie Glassman *(Required/Chaplaincy)

In January of 1994, while leading a bearing witness retreat in Washington, DC, Roshi Bernie created the Zen Peacemaker Order (ZPO) for Zen practitioners dedicated to the cause of peace and social justice. The ZPO has become an international, interfaith network called the Peacemaker Community, stressing the integration of spiritual practice and social action through Three Tenets: Not-knowing; Bearing witness to the joy and suffering of the world; and Loving action toward the world and ourselves. This weekend, Roshi Bernie focuses on his new endeavors, which integrate Zen practices into social action programs that work with the unemployed, homeless and disenfranchised in urban ghettos.
Cost: $220 members; $240 non-members. Plus lodging.

August 19, 2008 Special Dharma Talk on ACTIVISM AND THE PRACTICE OF WISDOM by Charles Halpern

Charles Halpern will draw on his long years of meditation practice and leadership in the nonprofit sector in outlining a new direction for activist engagement, grounded in wisdom that is necessary to meet the extraordinary challenges of the 21st century. The themes are developed in his new book, Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom. There will be a book sale and signing. Meditation begins at 5:30pm with dharma talk to follow at 5:45pm. Cost: Free. Open to the public.

This retreat provides a time of quiet in the remote wilds of New Mexico. Food is simple. Mountains are high, clear and accessible. All levels of practitioners, writers, artists, and nature lovers are welcome. The focus is on engaged practice, the natural world, and the arts. Natalie Goldberg is a renowned writer, lover of Zen and the natural world. Marty Peale is an environmental teacher. William deBuys is an author and environmental historian.
Cost: $580 member; $625 non-member. Includes dormitory lodging at Upaya and camping at the Refuge.

Sesshin, meaning to gather the heart and mind, is an intensive meditation retreat done with others to deepen one’s relationship to the mind and to the world. Days are silent, doing sitting and walking meditation together, eating formally as a community, and working together. With Sensei and Roshi, participants will explore koans from Dogen that bring service work in the world into a new perspective. Cost: $480 member; $525 non-member. Includes lodging.

September 5-7, 2008 BREAKTHROUGH WITH THE BRUSH: Art and Social Action with Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi

Sensei has long used his great skill in calligraphy as a medium for social action. This unusual workshop offers training in classical and free Zen calligraphy practicing with themes related to social action. Ideograms from ancient Chinese and Japanese masterpieces will be interpreted and reproduced along with original spontaneous works. For beginners and seasoned artists. Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi is a master calligrapher, Dogen scholar, and social activist. Cost: $220 members; $240 non-members. Plus lodging.